Right Sentinel Display Shelf

Martha and I have been collecting treasure together since 1981. Most of the collection is in boxes while only a few pieces get displayed. The Sentinels were built to display and look over our collection.

Oh man! I’m glad I have one of them finished. Over 2 months of work went into this one and its mate. Since I’m done with one of them, I’m posting it. The other will be posted when I’m finished with it.

These guys are made from ¾ Jatoba flooring. The shelves themselves are ash plywood. The whole thing is stained with Warm Cherry.

This project was cursed from the beginning – My table saw died. My Belt Sander Died. My HF pin nailer, bought specifically for this job, wasn’t up to snuff so I bought a Porter Cable.

About the time when I thought I was doing well, I ran inside to get a camera. When I got outside and held the camera up, a gust of wind toppled this poor guy and threw the whole thing out of square while chewing up some of my work.

Once I got that repaired, I kept on building. I discovered that I had made all the back rails too short, because the uprights were made from thinner pieces of wood. I had already installed the front rails and I was about to attempt to add the last column and my heart sank. They didn’t fit. The front rails were too long. They were well attached to the rest of the shelf. I had to use a palm router to shorten them in place.

This was my first experience with a palm router and there was no one around to set me straight. I started off with too big a cut for the super hard wood and the infernal machine grabbed. It ripped a chunk out of the wood then jumped from my hands with the bit spinning the whole time. The guide plate hit my knee, and sent the router twisting to the concrete. This is as close to a serious accident as I ever want to come and I thank the lord for watching over me.

On top of that, I didn’t read the manual (It’s a guy thing to be this dang bone headed). I was running the router from Right to Left. It was tearing out wood in the worst way. When I learned to go left to right – It was better.

My Blogs capture some of this turmoil. I thought it was getting ridiculous so I stopped Blogging the project.

One more thing – I don’t quit – but this project dipped all the way down into my reserves of patience. I’d dance up a storm if I wasn’t so danged tired, sunburned——and I didn’t have the second one to finish.

I would be proud to have that fine piece of furniture in my home. If you hadn’t said a word, no one would know but you. You learned a lot and more importantly you learned how to blend the mistakes into a beautiful piece. Job Well Done. Bravo Zulu.

Hats off to you Mark. It’s been a battle but you didn’t give up. Congrats!!!! It looks great!It’s all a learning process. Learn from the mistakes and keep on keepiin on. Now the second one should be a piece of cake…... ;^)P.S BE CAREFUL !! and one more word…dry fit, dry fit, and dry fit…oops..more than one, but I’m sure you know what I mean….

-- Gary; Marysville, MI...Involve your children in your projects as much as possible, the return is priceless.